Survey: Confidence in Banks Strong

While small-business owners might be wary of the financial sector these days, they remain confident in the stability of their local banks.

In a recent survey of 104 small-business owners and 985 consumers by Morpace Inc, a Farmington Hills, Mich.-based market research firm, only two percent of respondents said they were concerned with their bank's finances.

"This finding gives some breathing room to banks, who have had a lot of bad news to release in recent quarters," Morpace Vice President Tom Hartley said in a statement.

Hartley said the survey shows most people are able to tell the difference between bad news in the financial sector and the underlying strength of their primary bank.

Trust in the financial sector has weakened in the past year in the wake of the sub-prime mortgage crisis, along with the broader economic downturn, surveys show.